Community, Economic Creativity, and Organization

It has long been an interest of researchers in economics, sociology, organization studies, and economic geography to understand how firms innovate. Most recently, this interest has begun to examine the micro-processes of work and organization that sustain social creativity, emphasizing the learning and knowing through action when social actors and technologies come together in 'communities of practice'; everyday interactions of common purpose and mutual obligation. These communities are said to spark both incremental and radical innovation. In the book, leading international scholars critically examine the concept of communities of practice and its applications in different spatial, organizational, and creative settings. Chapters examine the development of the concept, the link between situated practice and different types of creative outcome, the interface between spatial and relational proximity, and the organizational demands of learning and knowing through communities of practice. More widely, the chapters examine the compatibility between markets, knowledge capitalism, and community; seemingly in conflict with each other, but discursively not. Exploring the frontiers of current understanding of situated knowing and learning, this book is for all those interested in the economic sociology of organizational creativity and knowledge capitalism in general. Contributors to this volume - Ash Amin, Professor of Geography and Executive Director of the Institute Advanced Study, Durham University, Patrick Cohendet, professor of Economics, University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg, France, Aurelie Delemarle, C'Nano IdF post-doctoral fellow, Technical Laboratories, Territories and Societies, Ecole National des Ponts et Chausses (ENPC), Marne la Vallee, France, Paul Duguid, adjunct professor, School of Information, University of California, Berkeley; professorial research fellow, Queen Mary, University of London; and honorary fellow, Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, Lancaster University School of Management, Meric S. Gertler, Goldring Chair in Canadian Studies, Department of Geography and Program in Planning, University of Toronto, Philippe Laredo, Director of Research, University of Paris-Est, Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chausses (ENPC), France, and Visiting Professor at the University of Manchester, Jean Lave, social anthropologist, University of California, Berkeley, Juan Mateos-Garcia, Research Officer and doctoral researcher at CENTRIM, University of Brighton, Bart Nooteboom, professor of Innovation Policy, Tilburg University, Joanne Roberts, senior lecturer in management, Newcastle University Business School, Harry Scarbrough, Professor in Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK, and Director, ESRC Evolution of Business Knowledge (EBK) research programme, Laurent Simon, associate professor, department of management, HEC Montreal, Canada, Ed Steinmueller, Professorial fellow, SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research, Sussex University), Michael Storper, Professor of Economic Geography, London School of Economics, Professor of Regional and International Development, Department of Urban Planning, School of Public Affairs, UCLA, and Professor of Economic Sociology, Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, Jacky Swan, Professor of Organizational Behaviour, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK, Nigel Thrift, Vice-Chancellor and Professor, University of Warwick, Visiting Professor of Geography, Oxford University, and Emeritus Professor of Geography, Bristol University.